


WHERE NO EAGLES FLY

by buttercuppoisoning



Series: VENI VIDI VICI [1]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: M/M, Maverick Zero - Freeform, edgy julian casablancas songs fuel me to write this, nothing but pain and suffering, robo cannibalism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-10-19 16:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10643592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttercuppoisoning/pseuds/buttercuppoisoning
Summary: x finds himself in an awful mess of a predicament when his most trusted partner, zero, succumbs to the grip of the maverick virus and tries to take over the country. applicable warnings will be at the beginning of every chapter





	1. I . CONFRONTATION

**Author's Note:**

> "lati shouldn't you be working on quicksilver" ok LISTEN I AM I ALREADY POSTED THE MONTHS CHAPTER LET ME LIVE  
> this au has been my little pet project it gets me in an edgy mood so here we go

Zero leaned out a window, palms resting on the frame. Without his helmet, his blonde hair fell loosely in front of his face and behind them, shifted by the mild freeze coming in through the open window.  
Normally, the hunter would be on the field, doing paperwork, running drills with rookies, but instead, here he was. Helmet off, armor haphazardly thrown on, eyes tired. After all, X had asked him to stay in his dorm today, and Zero was too restless to stay still, but his partner had at least insisted he stayed away from work and took the day off. Anyone who knew X at all knew it was worthless to resist X when he was being motherly, as he could be awfully stubborn when it came to protecting people, emergency or not.

Zero was sick. He was very, very sick. Ever since the fifth uprising, there had been a tense worry over whether or not the virus would overwhelm his system again. Up to this point, though, he had been managing it, but it wasn’t like it never gave him trouble. He had an uncomfortable insatiable urge to consume the Mavericks he’s killed, to crush them to dust, and he’d developed an increase thrill in the /hunt./

Needless to say, this worried him. Very, very much.

His grip on the windowsill tightened a fraction and he shut his eyes, pulling himself away from the window. It’d been getting worse recently, and he didn’t like it at all. Wrapping his arms around himself, Zero sighed, leaning against the wall and sliding to the floor. It disgusted himself that he couldn’t hold back- he hated the virus more than anything he had ever seen, more than anyone he had ever met. Out of anyone who had to have this accursed program stuck inside them, it had to be him. Often, the thought made Zero want to cry. Still, he had to power through. He didn’t particularly want to, but he had to keep fighting it.

He really didn’t want to hurt anyone. He had already caused enough trouble after he was overwhelmed during the Eurasia incident and had to struggle through his subsequent breakdowns. He buried his face in his knees, eyes shutting tighter as his core began to pound and spin a fraction faster. His anxiety, for lack of a better term, had been getting worse and worse as time went on. Paranoia, fear, he couldn’t hold any of it back. Not when he knew the virus was in his system, waiting to crawl up.

It took Zero a couple minutes to collect himself and realize he was breathing fast, hard, and seemed about ready to scream. With some hesitance, he pulled himself back up the wall and opened his eyes, turning and forcing himself to focus on the gentle movement of both artificial and real foliage outside the window.

HIs hands were shaking. It took immense effort to finally make them calm down, and to get /himself/ to calm down.  
/It’s okay. You won’t let it get to you. You can keep the virus at bay. You can do it. Just breathe./

“Zero?”

He whipped around, long hair swishing as Zero turned to meet the source of the voice- a familiar figure with sparkling green eyes and shining blue armor looked up at him with concern in his eyes, stepping a little closer and reaching out to touch Zero’s arm gently in an act of comfort. Zero jerked away from the touch, the act heavily resembling a flinch, and X’s expression shifted from concern to hurt. He drew the hand he had reached out back to his chest, holding it with his other palm. Regret immediately pierced Zero’s heart, but he drew his hands to his chest too, looking away.

He couldn’t hurt X. He couldn’t let himself hurt X.

“Are...are you okay? Did I do something wrong? How are you feeling?” X said after a moment of hesitation, still keeping his distance. He bit his lip and stared at the ground. Zero knew from years of working with him that this kind of body language clearly signified he did something wrong, but he didn’t even need those to know that he had fucked up. It was incredibly rare that Zero ever refused to let X touch him, and it was usually either because Zero was upset with him, or because he was having issues with the virus.

Zero got a terrible feeling that judging by the way X was shuffling nervously and glancing to Zero’s sabre holder, the other robot knew which one was currently the case.

“I’m fine, X, I promise,” he lied, forcing a smile onto his face and rubbing his eyes. X only nodded in response, clearly sensing the fib, but choosing not to comment on it. He had a habit of doing that- he wouldn’t go out of his way to pick conflict, and he knew that Zero felt bad about his issues with the virus, so what was the point in bringing it up if Zero didn’t want to talk about it? 

“If...if you say so,” X murmured in response, staring at the floor. “If you need anything, just let me know. You’d better go rest in your dorm, okay?” He waved briefly, forcing a smile on his face as he looked up at Zero, and half-jogged away. Zero felt a pang of regret run through his system at driving away the only person he’d been able to confide in about this. Still, he didn’t want to worry X, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he didn’t want to /hurt/ X, either. So, swallowing the lump in his throat, he retreated to his dorm, shutting the door behind him. If he wasn’t going to talk to X, he’d better at least take his advice. From his memory, when he rested, it gave the virus and his normal program a moment to reconcile and allow him some extra function the next time he woke up.

He heaved himself into his recharge tank and reached up to press the button that made the glass lid slide shut with a soft click. Closing his eyes, he relaxed and let sleep mode take him into the black.


	2. II . BLOODSHED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for blood/injury/slight emeto (?)

When X woke up, he was met with the sound of blaring alarms and lights flashing red as echoing footsteps and yells sounded from beyond his closed door. In his comm. link, there was a crackle, before Alia’s familiar voice broke in.

“X? Come in, X!”

X quickly shoved his recharge tank open, hastily tightening his plates of armor until they fit securely. “Yes, I’m here! What’s the emergency, Alia?” His voice was still slightly raspy, considering he just woke up, but he tried his best to make it as commanding and composed as he could. Just what the hell was going on. Sigma? Some other asshole who thought he could take over the world?

Well, whoever was the cause for alarm, they’d have to get through him first. Him, and Zero, and Axl. He smiled and took a deep breath to calm himself down as he struggled to find Alia’s response through the overwhelming static and chaotic background noise coating the signal.

“It’s- A- Unit- Report to--”

Something was very, very, wrong. Alia was never enough of a rookie to let her signal be blocked- no, if something was disrupting the connection between their communicators, there’d be silence. There had to be some trouble on her end, or someone attacked her, or something was damaged. She just wasn’t the type to let it happen. It was whole information, or no information at all. Someone as professional as her knew fully well that distorted connections were even less helpful than none. X switched to another signal, attempting to get through to both Axl and Zero-

Nothing. Silence. He rushed out the door of his dorm, muttering nonsense to himself in an attempt to decipher the situation. Based on his conversation with Zero last night, he wasn’t exactly optimistic. Was it him? Was it his dearest partner, the person he held closest, the person he trusted most?  
No one was immune to the virus’s effects- especially not Zero. Never Zero. Everyone knew he’d probably never be free of the godforsaken programming plaguing his system in every waking, and sometimes unconscious moment, and you could tell just from his behavior that Zero wasn’t...doing terrific. His words and actions worried him, and X wanted to think it wasn’t him, but with every second, it felt less plausible. The hunter shut his eyes and sighed, weaving through crowds of rookies and staff shoving their ways through the hall. His first plan was to find out what the hell was going on- whatever it was, it couldn’t be good, but X wanted a better idea of what was happening before he jumped in. Better yet, he needed to see if Alia was okay. Too many things on his mind. Too many things to worry about.

Upon arriving at the doorway of the Navigation Room, he was hardly surprised to see that the automatic doors were stuck shut, spitting sparks. He wedged his fingers between the two doors and pried them apart, letting out a displeased noise as he was hit with a wave of heat and smoke, along with the muffled noise of people crying for help and metal creaking, groaning, that sound of danger that he didn’t like. His eyes quickly traveled over the scene, poles previously holding up communication screens crushed over walls lined with computers, broken glass and robotic blood littering the floor. With every footstep, he crushed the glass into smaller pieces below his feet. X quickly recognized a flash of blonde and turned to see Alia struggling to heave a plane of metal off of her, grunting as she attempted to escape from beneath it.

“X!” she called, pushing harder, and managing to inch it from her upper body to more of her lower, freeing her torso for movement and lessening the chances of her getting her head crushed. “Can you help me with this?”  
He wordlessly nodded, dashing over to lift it, the both of them combined managing to toss it away, making a loud metallic clang as it hit the floor. Alia struggled to her feet, clear damage on her legs, X having to support her with one of his arms, the other now forming a buster, sensing the danger that was now so much clearer than before.

“Alia! What happened? What’s going on?” X was already getting overwhelmed- the alarms were bright, and loud, and it was hot, and he didn’t want to do this, he didn’t want to fight again, but now wasn’t the time for that internal conflict. She took a couple deep breaths, trying to muster the strength to speak.

“Zero-he-” she wheezed and coughed, droplets of blood flying out her mouth. X gasped and supported her further as she stumbled, lifting her up in his arms and preparing to warp her into the Medbay if the need arose, and it probably would, seeing the situation. “The virus- you need to save him-” she barely managed to choke it out before she heaved again, oil and coolant joining the blood.

“Shh, don’t talk anymore, you’ll be okay, I promise,” X replied hastily, panicking enough that his voice trembled. It was strange compared to his normal commanding tone, but he couldn’t pretend to be calm anymore. His hands shook- this was exactly what he feared, exactly what he was worried about, the worst case scenario coming true. He sent Alia to the Medbay, her disappearing in a flurry of pixels. Their communication connection allowed him to send her signals, and thankfully, she still had the energy to properly take and process the transmission signal. He turned, mentally preparing himself to leave and find Zero, only to find himself meeting the piercing red eyes he had always hated.

“...Zero..?”


End file.
